The invention relates to an apparatus for the metered removal of bulk material from a bin, the apparatus having a top bulk-material-filling opening and bottom bulk-material-removal opening, comprising a rotor that is connected in a driven manner to at least one sweeping arm disposed inside the bin near the bin's rotationally symmetrical floor and directed towards the removal opening.
Document DE 39 42 558 A1 describes a bin comprising a discharge apparatus in which a mesh bottom plate is disposed over a driven sweeping arm that is continually swept by an arm of an actuator device. Metering of the bulk material removed from the bin is not possible with the known discharge apparatus since the requisite bridging of the bulk material over the discharge openings that have not just been swept is not ensured and is also dependent on the material.
Document DE 33 33 115 C2 discloses a bunker that is clearable by a sweeping device in which compression of the bulk material is counteracted by an inwardly tilted cone-like bin floor. Here the gradient in the region of the tilted floor supports the conveying action of the sweeping arm, while also relieving the pressure on the bulk material. However, an apparatus of this type is unsuited for preventing the uncontrolled outflow of fluidized material.
Finally, document DE 35 03 993 A1 discloses a discharge apparatus for a bin in which a labyrinth seal is provided to increase the flow-through resistance relative to flowable masses. The seal closes the periphery of the central cone and keeps open a labyrinth gap only in the region in front of the clearing arms. However, this arrangement is disadvantageous in that compression-prone bulk materials are compressed by the long conveyance path and are therefore discharged in a nonuniform manner.
The fundamental problem to be solved by the invention is to create an apparatus for removing bulk material from a bin in which the mass of the removed bulk material can not only be metered very precisely, but which is also of simple design and very easy to maintain.